


Bindings

by wipklaine (bowtieowl)



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 05:25:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4126860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bowtieowl/pseuds/wipklaine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Future!AU one-shot with canon references regarding Kurt’s life and living out my dream that he will become a Broadway star after all. Blaine is a bookbinder with a thing for German and Kurt is a client who hands him over a story he can’t really put aside.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bindings

**Author's Note:**

> Mentions of Finchel since this was written early in 2013. Written for Anna.

Nothing compares to the sound of a book. It’s not even about the words, the thoughts, but about the thing itself. Blaine misses it sometimes because he is usually working with treasures as delicate as the wings of a dragonfly. You don’t make books like that sing for you. But occasionally he has a client who just needs a new cover and then Blaine allows himself to brush over the pages, closing his eyes to hear the pages breathe. And nothing compares.

What comes close is the sound of fresh snow under heavy boots, or the sound of dead leaves that are carried through the streets by the playful breeze that tends to come hand in hand with the cold of fall. It’s a little bit like that but not really. The sound is as similar to wood as a sound can be and it sometimes reminds Blaine that he works with trees that died to carry a world and that is something worth saving.

The book right in front of him isn’t one of those Blaine enjoys to touch. It’s not too old, doesn’t make his eyes go wide from excitement, but it is starting to lose its white face. The paper edges are starting to get soft and if this was Blaine’s book, he would probably rub his nose against the soft corner because it reminds him enough of cotton to do this kind of childish thing. But this isn’t his book so he keeps his distance and only sews it into new clothes. If this was Blaine’s book, he would use green colored leather for the final binding or maybe a rusty brown, because then the book would look more like itself, like yellow pages and soft corners. But this isn’t his book so he keeps his distance and uses black leather, soft and elegant and it’s almost a little bit too classy in Blaine’s opinion but that’s how his client wants her book.

He is almost finished when Alex comes in. Alex works for Blaine even when Blaine doesn’t really need her but she wanted the job desperately. Alex is a little bit lazy and a little bit stubborn but Blaine doesn’t mind because books are somehow lazy and stubborn as well so it fits. Alex takes care of the clients in the morning while Blaine takes care of the books. In the afternoons Blaine shows the girl how to bind books and how to restore them. Sometimes her eyes get this spark and then it looks like she really cares. Today, she looks more annoyed than anything else.

“There is a guy and he wants to talk to the boss,” she says and after only a second she lifts her eyes and shrugs. “That’s you, Blaine. You’re the boss.”

Blaine sighs and leaves the backroom to find a man about his age standing in the middle of the room. There are tight black jeans, a white shirt and something grey that could pass as a cardigan or a blazer or a suit jacket and Blaine frowns because he doesn’t even know the name for what this man is wearing. Blaine judges by covers. Not out of ignorance but because he is curious if he’s right.

“My name is Blaine.”

The man hesitates and Blaine wonders if the first name basis throws him off.

“Kurt.”

“You wanted to talk to me?”

A nod. Just that and Blaine realizes that Kurt lifts his chin and squints. Blaine smiles because he likes Kurt. Already likes him a lot. There is something exclusive about this man. The way he wears his hair, the significance of every movement, the alertness in the bright eyes – the cover is well put together, everything is where it is for a reason. But what’s best about this is the fact that this cover isn’t trying to make up for a poor story but represents a magnificent piece of art. At least, that’s what Blaine assumes and he knows a thing or two about covers.

“How can I help you?”Kurt seems to hesitate again and Blaine has the strange wish to offer him coffee. 

“Can you repair a photo album?”

It’s uncommon. Blaine has repaired a journal once but it’s mostly real books. He is intrigued, to say the least. “Uhm, technically…”

Blaine nods which causes Kurt to hand Blaine over a white leather bag with red ornamental seams and embossed with card symbols. And Blaine likes Kurt even more. He smiles until the other man pulls out a photo album that makes Blaine wince.

The pages almost fall out of their cover and Blaine can see from afar that the binding didn’t just fall apart but the paper broke where it was sewn. “Sheesh, this doesn’t look good. You said you want it repaired? Because I think I have to rebind this.”

Kurt’s eyes widen. “No. If you can’t save the cover and the paper and everything, I will just keep it this way, I just… it’s important to me and… I’d rather… Is there a way to fix it?”

Blaine gently touches the album and takes a deep breath. “Can I look over it? I try to do my best and if I can’t save it you don’t pay?”

Kurt’s eyes seem to brighten a shade and Blaine could swear that it’s out of relief. “Thank you, Sir. Money doesn’t matter. As long as you can save it. Can you call me once you’re finished?”

The man hands over a card and Blaine smiles because Hummel means bumblebee in German and it seems to be the only thing that doesn’t fit at all. It seems to be the flaw in Kurt’s cover and Blaine is pretty sure that he has found a single copy. “Sure. I’ll call you.”

The stranger leaves and Blaine stares and Alex giggles. “The last time you had that look, you held a first edition of Goethe’s Werther in your hands…”

Blaine blushes and smiles. “Well, looks like I have a thing for German.” 

Alex doesn’t understand. Blaine doesn’t even try to explain.

Filled photo albums are a lot heavier than books. Blaine knows that it’s because the pictures are heavier but his heart is telling him that while books carry worlds, photo albums carry lives and those are heavy per se. And Blaine Anderson tends to listen to his heart.

Kurt Hummel’s photo album starts with the picture of a baby that is all cheeks and eyes and smiling at an age when babies usually don’t smile yet. There is a woman with eyes filled with the sort of pride in her eyes that only comes from a source of true love. Kurt seems to have his mother’s eyes. Blaine almost bursts out laughing when he looks at a little boy who is still all cheeks and all eyes but now also all freckles. He’s wearing a bow tie. Then there is a picture of Kurt in a black suit and a black coat and his father wears black as well and after that picture Kurt’s mother seems to be erased from his life. There is an age gap but then the boy seems to be in his early teenage years. The cheeks are not so prominent anymore. Maybe because he doesn’t smile too often now. Not even on pictures. The eyes though, they are still there and Blaine suddenly wants to see the ocean. Or Hudson Bay at least.

He goes for a walk, listens to the sound of the water and thinks of Kurt’s eyes before he realizes what he’s doing, calls himself ridiculous and heads home again. The photo album continues with a boy who is on a stage often and then in a letterman jacket but only once. After that, Kurt seems to smile more often but Blaine can’t shake the feeling that the boy isn’t happy. Still, Kurt Hummel seems to thrive on every picture and suddenly Blaine can see the man who brought him the album. The smiles seem to be forced more often than genuine but Blaine can’t help thinking that Kurt forces his lips to smile not to hide something. He’s a person built of ‘ _because_ ’ and ‘ _despite_ ’. Blaine wishes he had known someone like Kurt Hummel in his teenage years.

There are pictures of girls and pictures of boys but there is nobody who seems to be able to lighten Kurt’s eyes. The story continues. There is a wedding between a tiny girl and a really huge guy and Blaine knows that he should probably be interested in their story but his eyes are fixed on the boy in the background. The black suit is perfectly tailored. Something in Blaine’s heart shifts. He would have loved to dance with this boy. There is a second wedding of two other people, a little bit older. Kurt is still alone. Always with people but always alone. And it continues like this. Different people, different events, some stages and a boy who mastered a perfect forced smile. Blaine would do a lot to hear Kurt laugh. The last picture is the boy who was once all cheeks and smile, now all grown up and breathtakingly beautiful and he is holding a bouquet of flowers on a stage. He still seems lonely.

It leaves Blaine drained. Because he doesn’t want it to end here. He wants more wedding pictures. Kurt in a suit with a ring on his finger. He wants vacation pictures from Europe. He wants to see Kurt with kids and Kurt laughing so loudly that Blaine can hear it when he looks at a photograph. Blaine knows that it’s weird. To feel all that. But he doesn’t want the book to end there.

After three days of careful work, Blaine does the impossible and repairs the album. He saves the leather, saves the paper. It’s not sewn now but glued and it’s the best he can do. He wants to call Kurt but something keeps him from doing it. He looks at Kurt Hummel’s photo album every day and doesn’t get any rest. As if the story can’t let go of Blaine.

So Blaine starts working again and two days later, there is a second photo album. It looks like a perfect copy of the first one. Dark brown leather, the color of roasted hazelnut. A white binding. A golden embossing that says  _‘Kurt Hummel_ ’. The thing that makes this album different is that it’s empty. And next to the name there is a golden bumblebee. Blaine knows that this is strange. This is intruding into a life. But somehow he can’t help it. He takes a business card of himself and tugs it into the corners of the second album. The one he made himself.

Blaine has always thought that people would want to know what the guy looks like who touches their books. That’s why there is a picture of him on the card. It would be weird enough as it is, Blaine is aware of that. Still, he writes –COURAGE– under his own picture. If he does it for him or Kurt, he doesn’t know. And in the end it doesn’t matter. It’s a poetic gesture, something he can tell his nurse one day when he’s old.

_I met this beautiful man one day and I opened a new chapter in his life with the word ‘Courage’ but I don’t really know what happened to him. I guess I like the thought that he found happiness._

He calls Kurt and gives him his album back and tells him that there is a second album if he needs more space. Kurt is skeptic, Blaine can tell. He pays for the restoration and thanks Blaine for the second book. Blaine insists three times that it’s on the house. They say goodbye and just like that Kurt Hummel is nothing more than a story in Blaine Anderson’s life.

Alex brings him coffee every morning afterwards. She’s never done that before. Actually, she’s never done anything without a specific request. When Blaine asks her why she is so motivated and committed all of a sudden, she just shrugs. “You look like you need someone to take care of you right now. And I’m here, so…” Blaine is happy he hired her after all.

After three weeks, when Blaine is cutting leather the color of red maple leaves, his phone buzzes. Once. Blaine opens the message and stares at it for a few minutes.

_What kind of person puts a business card of themselves into a photo album of a stranger and writes COURAGE under their own picture?_

Blaine sighs. It could have stayed his poetic mystery. It feels tainted now. Too real to be a good story. Blaine wants to answer, apologize and get it over with when there is a second message.

_Thank you for that. Coffee? :)_

And then Blaine is smiling. Maybe it’s exactly what it was supposed to be. A new chapter.


End file.
